March 17, 2005
Contact: Joanne Ward
Tel: 732-562-2461

    PARENT, PASTOR, PRINCIPAL TO BE HONORED AT DIOCESE OF METUCHEN
    CATHOLIC EDUCATION DINNER

A parent and a priest who played leading roles in the creation and construction of Immaculate Conception School (ICS) in Clinton will be honored at the Diocese of Metuchen’s Spotlight on Education Dinner.

Larry Meo never attended Catholic school, but in the last ten years he has been so involved and instrumental in the building of ICS that he will receive “The Theodore Cardinal McCarrick Distinguished Partners in Catholic Education Award.

At the dinner, to be held April 5 a the Doubletree Hotel in Somerset, the Rev. Andrew I. Szaroleta, pastor of Immaculate Conception Church, Clinton, will be honored with the “The Bishop Edward T. Hughes Leadership in Catholic Education Award.”

Funds from the dinner will benefit Immaculate Conception School as well as the Diocese’s Tuition Assistance Program which is available to all students in the Diocese.

Meo first proposed the Diocese build a Catholic school in Hunterdon County in October 1994. Through hard work and perseverance, his vision became a reality in September 2002.

The Clinton resident credits the positive influence a Catholic education had on his wife and his realization of the value a Catholic school would offer his four children, for his determination and dedication to the founding of Immaculate Conception.

A corporate executive, first with AT&T and now with Lucent Technologies, Meo was appointed chairman of the Hunterdon County Catholic School Committee in April 1995. At the direction of Bishop Hughes he developed a feasibility study for a diocesan school in Hunterdon County. Later that year, Father Szaroleta agreed to have the school built on the property of Immaculate Conception, a 54 acre site on Old Allerton Road, in the Annandale section of Clinton Township, near the intersection of State Highway 31 and Interstate 78.

Along with an Executive Committee he helped establish, Meo presented a plan for the diocesan school to the Diocese in June 1996. It was rejected, reworked, presented again a year later and rejected again for financial reasons. Then, in the Fall of 1997, the Diocese’s new Bishop, the Most Rev. Vincent DePaul Breen, redirected the committee’s focus from a diocesan to a parish school. Again headed by Meo, an Executive Committee submitted a plan that was approved in the Summer of 1999. Construction on the new parish school began in June 2001 and in September 2002, the new ICS was opened. It was dedicated by Bishop Paul Bootkoski on October 13, 2002 and today serves nearly 500 students.

Besides his efforts on the construction of the new school, Meo also helped develop and implement the school’s School Advisory Council, Education Advisory Committee, and the Technology Committee. He was the school’s first Director of Finance, a position he still holds today.

According to Meo, one individual whose support and assistance made Immaculate Conception School possible is the parish’s pastor, Fr. Szaroleta.

“He has been absolutely incredible,” Meo said.

A native of Perth Amboy, Fr. Szaroleta was assigned to Immaculate Conception in 1993. In addition to working towards the creation of a new school, as pastor Fr. Szaroleta oversaw the construction of a new church edifice, dedicated in June 1996, the renovation of the original church building, and the completion of a new Parish Hall. He also served as pastor of Immaculate Conception’s mission church, St. Catherine of Siena, Pittstown until the appointment of its own resident pastor in 1999.

Prior to his arrival at Immaculate Conception, Fr. Szaroleta served in Sacred Heart Parish, South Amboy, Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish, South Plainfield, St. Joseph Parish, Washington, and St. Bernadette Parish, Parlin.

Immaculate Conception Principal, Annamarie Reilly, will also be recognized at the Diocese’s Spotlight Dinner as the distinguished educator from the spotlighted school. Hired in 2001, Reilly first was principal of Immaculate Conception when it had only four classrooms which were located in the old church building converted to a temporary school. She became principal of the new ICS when it opened in 2002. “She worked tirelessly to bring our full school to fruition, and was the unanimous choice of the ICS School Advisory Council for this award,” Fr. Szaroleta said.

For more information on the Spotlight on Education Dinner, visit the Diocese’s website: www.diometuchen.org or contact the Office of Development at 732-562-2435.

 

# # # The Diocese of Metuchen serves over 500,000 Catholics in Middlesex, Somerset , Hunterdon and Warren counties. The Diocese includes 108 parishes. It serves its faithful through 25 ministries that provide educational, pastoral and charitable outreach.

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